Monday, May 27, 2013

I have done more stitching on the The Prairie Schooler Alphabet design "L is for Leaves". My last post about it is here. I am in total love with the autumn tones of greens and browns in this project.

My friends in this SAL are stitching "J is for Jack O' Lantern" and "N is for Nest". The nest design is really cute. I would love to stitch all of the patterns on one piece of linen but not sure how long that would take me! Probably several years I reckon.

Well I'm off to bed. I have had a long day but really enjoyed putting my feet up for an hour tonight stitching on my London piece which I will share very soon. I put a little soldier in the wrong spot so will have to do some frogging when I pick it up next time. Silly me!

Friday, May 24, 2013

This week I am joining in with Yarn Along, a linky party sharing a knitting project with a current read.

I am still working on the chunky cushion cover using some gorgeous 3ply woollen yarn by Nature Spun 3ply 100% wool. You can see my previous post about it here. The plain stocking stitch is so textural.

This week I couldn't resist purchasing the latest Dan Brown book Inferno. I enjoyed the page-turning thrills of his previous books and this one is proving just as exciting. Throw history and puzzles together in a setting like Italy and I am right into it!

It is Friday afternoon in Australia and it has been far from relaxing. Three year old Tom decided he didn't want a bath locking the bathroom door as he exited. I was standing just outside the bathroom door getting his PJs organised. I had a mad three minutes trying to get the bathroom door handle off with a screwdriver hearing the water getting closer and closer to the top. It was my very own Dan Brown adventure! Luckily I got the door open just at the last moment before the water spilled over the bath edge flooding the ceiling below.

So with a glass of wine and nerves that are still slightly frayed I wish you a happy weekend... Jan x

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

I have been battling away with my 17 year old sewing machine of late and trying to machine quilt with it. I have known for a while now it hasn't cut the mustard. The seams pucker and the stitching accuracy is not there. Sure it was great for ordinary dressmaking and sewing but quilting with it was not wonderful.

What celebrations there were in my world this week when hubby agreed I could get a new sewing machine. It is a Janome 2160DC.

Finally I can have the right feet attachments! I can get an accurate seam with a 1/4 inch foot. I now can machine quilt using a walking foot. And I can finally stipple with a darning foot.

So far I am loving the new machine. It is so smooth and easy to operate. I have 60x stitches to choose from and some pretty swish hand-operated buttons to start/stop when I please and needle down at the end of a seam. I look forward to showing you a pretty flowery stitch it does.

Look out for more quilting projects from me (mostly UFOs sitting in my cupboard);

Monday, May 20, 2013

I have broken the back of Noah's Ark roof this weekend. Only a few little x's and back stitch left. The back stitching highlights the attic rooms (if that's what they are called on arks- any ark experts out there?)

I have been stitching on it this last weekend while visiting hubby with the children. Hubby is living and working four hours away this year as a career move. He will be back with us in 2014. He tries to get home on weekends but he was working this past one, so we went to him. The children adore seeing him especially our three year old, Tom who doesn't quite get where Daddy is during the week. Tom fell asleep on Daddy last night so there has been some missing going on.

Friday, May 17, 2013

I stitched on Noah's Arc tonight. I wish I had more time on it but that is the way it is with a child dedicated to her dancing lessons. We didn't arrive home until 9pm.

The cows are now outlined in backstitch. Here is the link to the previous post to show my progress in embellishing. When I am backstitching the outlines appear crude. Once completed the outline really lifts the animals off the background. Next up is to outline the kangaroos you can see. Speaking of which, a cute roo was in my driveway when I drove in tonight.

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Thanks for dropping into my blog. I hope your weekend has crafty time planned into it...

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

The recent popularity in the deer being featured in home décor, has fuelled my passion for deer cross stitches and deer ornaments (which are currently packed away in the Christmas decoration boxes so I can't show you).

I would love to own a pet deer but I have been told they are as destructive in the garden as wallabies (aka small kangaroos). I witness nightly the ability of animal teeth to wreck foliage in a garden in 2 minutes flat so I will stick with the cross stitched kind.

Last night I started a delightful little deer out of the cutest of books A Rainbow of Stitches written by a team of French stitchers. I have only stitched the head onto the linen. Expect more later in the week. I will make it into a book mark to gift myself.

I am in a SAL with girlfriends stitching from the alphabet series by The Prairie Schooler. This design is L for Leaves. You can see my previous post here. I am pleased to have made some obvious progress as I am only stitching on it once every 3 weeks. The colours are so autumn and rich.

Monday, May 13, 2013

I hope if it was Mother's Day in your part of the world that it was fabulous. My Mother's Day was filled with family time, a Sunday market, golden autumn leaves, a cat show and yummy brekkie in bed.

Mother's Day brought out the best in creative talents from my Miss14. She designed and sewed the most devine "rose sewing basket". Here is a peak. I will have to get her to help me design a tutorial for it so we can share her designs. She quilted the material on the sewing machine and made these adorable beaded pins.

It was fun to relax on the sofa tonight in front on the TV cross stitching. It has seemed a long time between drinks since I have done this. Last week's evenings was full of school meetings, picking up children from activities and doing some sewing on dancing costumes. Tonight I started watching a boxed set of the TV series "Waking the Dead" which kept me on the edge of the couch and was aptly English.

I finished stitching the word "England" tonight. Here is a link to my last post about this design. I like the simplicity of this cross stitch design with the modern touch. I am thinking it will become a cushion. What do you think it should become?

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

This is a slow stitch. I have been working on the roof for months. There are a lot of mixed colours (one strand of one colour stitched with one strand of another) which means concentration plus, plus, plus. The colours aren't labelled well either so I needed my university degree to keep track of which colours to mix. Despite all that I am liking the detail especially the camels! I have a bit more backstitching to do to bring the other animals alive. When I compared to my first post here I have come a long way.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Autumn, the season of cold mornings, golden leaves and hot chocolates, gets me in the mood for knitting. I recently discovered this scrummy, chunky cushion on Pinterest (which I am totally addicted to) and decided I had to knit something similar. The yarn I am using ( Nature Spun 3ply 100% wool) is probably not as chunky as the photo, so my next cushion will be even chunkier. I am using 9mm needles. I had the joy of yarn buying from a cute and newish shop in Hobart called The Stash Cupboard.

Slow cooked Lamb Ragu is also part of this season. ﻿

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Have you any favourite crafts or recipes for Autumn? I would love you to share with me...

Saturday, May 4, 2013

I made it as a Guest Designer!!! The website is an Australian scrapbooking site called Life Paper Scrapbook. I don't know if I will ever be lucky enough to be a guest designer again so I have cracked open the champers. Check out my layout here.

I had to design a layout based on a sketch so I had fun playing with the main Studio Calico Spencer kit and the card kit from March.

The card kit contained the funkiest "light bulb" stamp and associated cute phrases made by Lawn Fawn. I saw them and immediately thought school layout. Master J is quite an academic so the stamps were a perfect addition. I have been very proud of how he has has been as "cool as a cucumber" about the transition from the public to private system. Learning to put on a neck tie seems to have been his biggest challenge LOL.

If scrapbooking ain't your thing I'm posting next about a new knitting project - chunky cushions. Thanks for stopping by...

Jan x

Similar products to those used above can be bought purchased at the following links:

It really is a darling little purse. The roses are quaint and pretty. I wish I could show you all in person but you will just have to be satisfied with the photos. I will use it as a sewing bag for my stitching scissors and threads for small projects.

The dissolvable canvas came away very easy in warm, soapy water. I was surprised at how it dissolved almost like glue but then washed off the thread so easily leaving no sticky marks.

Apart from not having enough light pink thread for one rose (I colour matched it with one from my stash) I had all the bits and bobs to finish the project.

The kit assembly instructions were a little confusing initially. The kit fabric came all in one piece and the pattern kept referring to the 3x pieces. It didn't actually tell me to cut them apart. So I put scissors to fabric and cut them (with my fingers and toes crossed) hoping I was doing the right thing. And yes I was!

I am beaming that I finished this kit. I am notorious for not doing small kits. Silly me always does the big projects. I will definitely stitch more from the Stitch book. Why, oh why, when I can produce a cute number in such a short time that is so functional? Are you working on a small project at the moment? Tell me as I would love to check it out on your blog if you have one.

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